It simply shuts down the target's drives. Easily seeable when you drop a Gravity Well on a ship, let it fly just out of it, and then grab it with a "tractor beam": It will fall back into the Well, even if that means falling away from you and your tractor beam.

Renaming Tractor Beam might open it up to make real tractor beams, without wasting all the balancing work that went into the current power.

I would go one step further, and say: Remove the Tractor Beam "power" entirely. Instead, make it standard for all ships. Tractor Beam is standard equipment on -most- starships and shuttles (with the notable exception, being the Enterprise-B).

A Tractor Beam has also been shown in the shows, to function either offensively (dragging an enemy into a hazard, or reducing the enemy weapons effectiveness), as well as supportively (dragging a friendly out of harms way). I would love to see a true "drag" power in STO, where players could support other players, by for example pulling their friends out of Warp Plasma clouds, or even a Gravity Well.

I would go one step further, and say: Remove the Tractor Beam "power" entirely. Instead, make it standard for all ships. Tractor Beam is standard equipment on -most- starships and shuttles (with the notable exception, being the Enterprise-B).

A Tractor Beam has also been shown in the shows, to function either offensively (dragging an enemy into a hazard, or reducing the enemy weapons effectiveness), as well as supportively (dragging a friendly out of harms way). I would love to see a true "drag" power in STO, where players could support other players, by for example pulling their friends out of Warp Plasma clouds, or even a Gravity Well.

A Tractor Beam has also been shown in the shows, to function either offensively (dragging an enemy into a hazard, or reducing the enemy weapons effectiveness), as well as supportively (dragging a friendly out of harms way). I would love to see a true "drag" power in STO, where players could support other players, by for example pulling their friends out of Warp Plasma clouds, or even a Gravity Well.

You could say this is already in game thanks to Tractor Beam Repulsors, I can't see it being much of a problem to have another version that brings ships closer to you.

It is such a shame this game doesn't have collidable objects, imagine the fun you would have in PvP pushing ships into asteroids, or dragging them next to a cube about to explode.

What's the point in having an ability that essentially holds a target in place? Might as well just buff "Target Subsystem: Engines", to make the chance to disable engines, nearly 100%, if that's what you want. We have plenty of powers that already function offensively (warp plasma, gravity well, tyken's rift etc). Why not have a power that can either drag enemies into these hazards, or drag friendlys out of them?

Quote:

Originally Posted by coupaholic

You could say this is already in game thanks to Tractor Beam Repulsors, I can't see it being much of a problem to have another version that brings ships closer to you.

True, but as the power is named "Repulsor", it pushes the targets away from you. While a Tractor Beam has been shown to "Pull" a target towards you. Although I suppose there is an argument to be made, for also having the "stop target in place" function of the Tractor Beam. Just look at the counter to the Picard Maneuver, for a reference.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sophlogimo

So, the proposal is to rename the current "tractor beam" and make a new power that is a real tractor beam. No nerf whatsoever.

Solution:

- Rename existing Tractor Beam to "Holding Beam"
- Give all ships a proper "Tractor Beam" that functions more like the show

I have always hated how the tractor beam was just a hold beam. I am a farm boy from western Canada, we use tractors to pull equipment now why cant i pull another ship out of combat...damit Scotty thats how a tractor works

I would like it that I would use my tractor beam to get the target and move him around the map. Not just hold him in place. Not that it works much now anyway with the dime dozen counters for it in pvp.